Kansas University sophomore forward Thomas Robinson had successful surgery Friday to repair a meniscus tear in his right knee and will be out for approximately two weeks, KU coach Bill Self said Friday night.

Robinson injured his knee after completing a dunk against Missouri on Monday, Self told the Journal-World.

“When he fell (after dunking), his knee buckled. It’s been bothering him since the game and we did an MRI on him this morning and found out he had a (slight) meniscus tear in his right knee,” Self said. “Surgery was performed (Friday). It went well, but he will be out on either side of two weeks depending on how progress goes. It could be a little shorter, could be a little longer.”

The 6-foot-9, 237-pound Robinson, who averages 8.9 points and 6.4 rebounds a game, has made 20 of his last 25 shots over the last four games, averaging 12.8 ppg in that span.

Robinson missed the Colorado game on Jan. 25 tending to the funeral of his mother, Lisa, in Washington, D.C.

“He’d definitely been playing great,” Self said. “Basketball has been a great release for him. He’s very disappointed, but has been strong throughout this. He had a great attitude today.

“We’re disappointed for him for a lot of reasons. One is he is playing so well. But we would rather have him healthy and in rhythm going into the postseason than waiting and doing the surgery later on (and letting him play with the injury).”

According to sportsmedicine.about.com, the meniscus is a small, C- shaped piece of cartilage that acts as a cushion in the knee joint, sitting between the thigh bone (femur) and the tibia (shin bone). During meniscus repair surgery the torn section of meniscus is either removed or the torn edges are joined back together with suture or tacks. The goal is to save as much of the original, normal meniscus cartilage as possible.

If Self decides to go with a big lineup, the injury means more playing time for 7-foot sophomore center Jeff Withey.

Meanwhile, Josh Selby (stress reaction, right foot), who has missed the last two games, is listed as doubtful for today’s game against Iowa State.

“I thought he’d be a little further along. I think the doctors did, too. He’s been fitted with a new orthotic, which is specially made for him (designed to) get him through the next two weeks if he experienced any tenderness. I don’t know if he’s getting used to the orthotic or is sore, but he didn’t move great (Thursday).

“We’re not going to play him if he’s hurting,” Self added. “We need to have all our pieces. I’ve said for years you want to be playing your best basketball February into March. You want to get that confidence over time. In this situation, we’ll be a different team with Josh than without him. We need him to get as many reps as possible. It’d help us and him to have continuous games under his belt where he’s in peak form going into the postseason.”

Travis Releford recently missed five games because of a severe ankle sprain and is still not 100 percent. Tyrel Reed has been playing, but slowed by an left foot injury. And Jeff Withey has battled tendinitis in a knee.

Self described Reed’s injury as “a sore foot in a tough spot. It’s kind of a bone-bruise-type spot on his heel. It is not an Achilles. Don’t read into that at all, but it’s in a location that can create a nuisance such as an Achilles in that area.”

Defense: Brady Morningstar on trying to defend ISU senior guard Diante Garrett, who burned KU for 27 points in the first meeting in Ames: “You have to keep him out of the paint. He likes to isolate his defender and drive. He’s a heck of a player. He can handle the ball well, he can pass and he can score at the rim.”

ISU’s Garrett on playing in Allen FIeldhouse: “I think it’s a great place. The tradition that’s been in there. The teams that have played there. And Kansas has always been on top, one of the top 10 teams in the nation. Being able to play there, I’m thankful to be able to play in that kind of place. I just think it’s a great place.”

Naismith Award: KU junior Marcus Morris was named to the Naismith midseason list of 30 players, the Atlanta Tipoff Club announced Friday. The Naismith Trophy will be awarded at the 2011 NCAA Final Four in Houston.

Comments

This is why it's such an advantage to have the kind of quality depth that we have on this team. One goes down, another steps up.

This may also be a great opportunity for Jeff Withey to make a statement. With limited minutes, he has had difficulty getting untracked. I'd love to see him break out and be more of a presence on the court.

Selby's suspension and multiple missed games. Mario's legal woes and suspension. Injured and/or hobbled players out the wazoo. Prolonged shooting slumps for several of the team's glue-players. Home court winning streak snapped. And, of course, T-Rob. Mikehawk, I would say this team is already well on its way to being defined by how it responds to adversity. And it just makes a true KU fan love this team that much more!

The meniscus essentially has no blood supply, so when damaged, the meniscus can't heal without surgery/scope. After a scope, most patients can walk w/o crutches within 48 hours, and by the 7th post-op day, they are on elliptical-type equipment. Patients are usually on some type of activity restriction for approximately 4- 6 weeks after surgery.

2 weeks sounds optimistic to me, but T-Rob is young and a highly trained athlete who may recover quicker than you or me. At least there is no ligament damage (MCL) as first reported.

Jeff Whitey's foot injury, Mario's arrest, Johnson's injury, Releford, deaths in T-Rob's family, Selby and now this. Man. I cant think of any other season where there were so many issues- injuries, tragedies, off the court issues. God Bless.

Exactly! I was thinking that about a week ago. Take away T-Rob's tragedy and the level of our adversity isn't quite as deep as that championship season; and heaven knows our bench is a little deeper on this year's team (no football players or walk-ons playing key roles this year) ... but seriously. That which does not kill us ...

The first thing I told my family when T-Rob fell was that he appeared hurt. The second thing I said was that it reminded me of the dunk Jerod Haase had when he broke his wrist at the end of his senior season.

The only difference between the two falls was that Jerod was horizontal to the rim, with his ribs touching the backboard before he came straight down. I figure T-Rob is just too big a horse to get that Zontal!

Brandon tore his ACL after a dunk or lay up. It just happens. I tore my meniscus jumping, while playing soccer. That is something that I've done a million times and when I landed something felt funny-but I was able to keep playing. Later that evening my knee buckled for no reason and I knew I was in trouble.

Captku, it is always better to tear the ACL over the MCL. The meniscus is not the MCL either.

Jeff is going to have to dig deep and step up for KU. This is his time and I think he will make the most of it. Also going to need big minutes from Travis and Mario.

These injuries and difficulties will make us stronger ....But come on.. Making these freshmen tough it through these times will help build this team. Leaning on shoulders like a circle, this team leans on one another to. I hope these young men keep on making us proud ..will need it, first time in years we didnt have one on the Mickey D's all star team ??

Is that the one where his momentum was carrying him so fast and he released the rim so that he wouldn't get T'd up for hanging? I hope that wasn't the reason. Would be terrible if all we gained was one point. (And if he HAD hanged on it, hopefully a ref would've seen that there's no safe way for the player to land after the dunk except for hanging on a little longer.)

First thing I said after seeing that play was that I was pissed at the refs. It looked like he was trying to avoid a technical foul for hanging on the rim but hurt himself in the process. He's been called for it in the past, and now he injured himself trying to avoid that foul.

Wow.. I agree Devilhawk. I was looking forward to seeing this team come together in Feb. and make a run in March -- hopefully in a couple weeks we can still do that.

If so, we should be better for it because we'll have tested and developed our depth.

Still has me worried about the season, the ways things have gone. This teams has all the potential of '08...but this has been a rough ride for sure. Looking forward to seeing how it pans out, to say the least! :)

Very thin line between stress fracture and stress reaction ... something to be really concerned about. The difference is just a matter of degree. Like an MCL "sprain" is really a tear, just a different degree.

It seems like the issue with Withey this season has been a lack of strength. But that is largely due to his foot injury.

I also would bet that D. Manning has been focused on getting Withey to perfect his strength-based post moves rather than his actual shooting - because at 7-0, he should be able to get most of his points on dunks or tip-ins.

His numbers are actually really similar to Aldrich's freshman numbers.

When I saw the headline, I said, "Come on, Gary Bedore----stop playing a cruel joke on Jayhawk Nation." Just kidding, Gary. What else could go wrong? Man, this team knows adversity and hopefully, our bench, which has depth, will need to step it up again and again. I hope that doogie howser, or whatever the Wildcat poster guy's name was, isn't licking his chops for Monday. Get better, T-Rob! Need you for the Home Stretch! Maybe he'll be ready for A&M---Senior Night at Allen Field House, March 2nd.

This sucks he was my favorite player... If he got to play as many minutes as our cheap shot artists his numbers would be better..Gooe thing we are the deepest team in the nation.... His size and energy will be missed..

TRob is resilient and tough. The two weeks will be ample time for recovery. Whithey will get his "A" - game ready. He really needs to take advantage of this time. He could be huge postseason. Withey needs a rhythm much like TRob found.

Someone mentioned the McD list. I remember when TRob found out he wasn't invited. He immediately resolved to prove the McD list wrong. This injury will only make him more determined to succeed. I don't think he views this as a setback but an opportunity to work and become an even better player. Somone said he will likely return for the OU game? What a game. TRob will have a ferocious appetite. Watch out OU!

Rock Chalk TRob, keep your head up and your smile bright! You'll be back in no time.

Being back in 2 & back like he was are not the same. This guy was fearless. Danny has to take over on this one. And he's got enough already with the the rover boys. This friggin season is starting to sound like Murphy's Law.

As far as Selby goes, we need to keep in mind that this next game is Iowa St. at home. There is no better game for Josh to get an extra game of rest than this one. Its not like HCBS can come out and say 'Iowa St. is a sh1tty team so we are not going to risk him getting more hurt against these hacks.'. That is why I believe he is listed as doubtful. If this was at KSU he would be playing.

I do think Coach puts the health of his players ahead of winning. josh must have felt some lingering soreness to still be doubtful. Watch for him to dress and warm-up to test the foot before the game.

Thomas, my heart aches for you my friend. Each day brings another test and you keep on aceing them. A meniscus tear repair normally involves removing part of the meniscus that is loose. Too much of that puts bone on bone and changes the career trajectory (see Brandon Roy).

This blows, however I do not think this is as big a deal as Selby's injury, or even Releford's. This has nothing to do with the medical aspect of their injuries. I do not think it is as bad because I don't think that it will take long to re-establish the front court chemistry once TRob returns. Selby's injury on the other hand may turn out to be the downfall of this team. I've been saying for awhile that he is the wild card; the difference between us being an elite 8 level team and a National Championship contender. He was already behind the curve having missed the first 9 games, then this injury crops up and sets back his progress again. He has so far to go - getting back in game shape, gelling with his teammates, getting the right feel for the speed of the game, and just naturally progressing in the areas we need him the most - and he is running out of time to do it. And as for Releford, I think he has the potential to bring the some of the same skills as Selby, as well as be one of our better perimeter defenders where we need so much help. Again, potential is there, but he needs to be on the court progressing to realize that potential.

While I feel Selby needing to gel with his teammates is something he'll need to work on, the team as a whole has to be fighting this. As has been mentioned, we have not had our full compliment of players for even a single game this season. On the one hand it has been a quasi-blessing, letting some of the bench players see more minutes and ready them for March. However, consider the '08 team had been together for 2 years (with the exception of Cole, who played sparingly as the 4th big). They had some injuries to fight through, but over the course of 2 seasons that is not a huge obstacle to overcome. That team also had their normal rotation in clearly defined roles. Asking this group to do it in the limited time we have left might be asking for too much. I am hopeful Self can push the right buttons and find the right combinations of players - this is definitely the best year for something like this to happen, with there being no dominant teams - but I think the clock is ticking.

ict: Great post. Your analysis on Selby, and the imact of these injuries is right on point.

After watching Selby, and how we've played with him, and without him, I would suggest that there are many times when Selby does make us a poorer "team" .. his play drags us down, gets us out of our game. On the other hand, there's times when he boosts us as a team. And in the end, the more he (and the team) would be able to meld together, we had a higher upside with him, than without. But with him on the bench, the liklihood of his presence being more of a negative vs. a positve increases.

A little meniscus trim will have TRob back soon enough. But we really need Selby getting his PT. On the flip side, I think this will open the door for Releford to really seize his role here ... I don't know, at this stage of the season, I like this team much more than last season's team. Today will be an interesting test of how focused we are.

Blownjay: Don't worry too much on TRob .. he's demonstrated he can get back in the flow pretty quickly. And again, perhaps silver lining here .. TRob's one main knock is being a touch out of control, a touch "too fast" sometimes .. this knee deal might cause him to be a bit more cautious when he returns, which might take the edge off just a bit, and turn out to be a positive.

BlownJay - I agree TRob's injury hurts us more in the short term due to lack of front court depth. The point I was making was assuming these guys both recover this season, looking at the big picture Selby's injury is more damaging. Obviously not having a legitimate 3rd big will force us to either play small, or play Withey. Short term, it might cause us to lose one league game, which is not a big deal until Texas loses a game. However considering the competition the next two weeks - Iowa St., KSU, Colorado, & OSU we are not playing teams that are going to be able to exploit our lack of front court depth (with the possible exception of K-State). We could even afford to push TRob out for the Oklahoma game, which would give him closer to 3 weeks off for a return against A&M. However our frontcourt has already demonstrated they have great chemistry with each other, and he should be able to re-establish that relatively quickly. Selby on the other hand had never gotten fully comfortable, either with his teammates or with the college game in general. You're right we're deep on the perimeter, and have already seen that having him out of the line-up has not hurt us in terms of suffering a loss. However, long term I believe that you need dynamic guard play to win in March. I think our guards, while solid, would be fairly pedestrian and slightly over-matched against elite competition. Selby progressing to become more of a reliable slasher (coupled with his outside shooting touch) would give us the best chance at equalizing that disadvantage. Right now we're only talking about potential, and he needs every game possible to realize that potential.

I had surgery for the same problem - partial torn miniscus. Doctor took out about 20% of one miniscus. That was two weeks ago and I am still swollen and gimpy. But then I am not a young kid anymore and do not have access to all the therapy equipment that athletes have. However, I would be surprised if he is doing anything more than shooting practice free throws after two weeks. Get well soon Robinson.

I love the postings that are convinced Withey is this great player, who for some reason other than the fact that he's not ready yet just hasn't found a way to break into the rotation. I guess I'm just more skeptical and tend to hold my excitement until he actually demonstrates he can produce well for a top ranked basketball team.

This really, really blows for both TRob and Selby and ultimately the team. They are going to be hampered the rest of the year. This is just reality. Might as well enjoy each game because the reality is we are very, very hampered with available bench. Withey hasn't done anything yet and he won't. Releford and Little are the only possibilities. The twins have to stay out of foul trouble but that isn't going to happen because the other team is going to go at them as never before. Very depressing times ahead and any possibility for FF is gone.

Wow, Keith...
Never underestimate our bench. Travis Rel looks better all of the time, Brady is on fire, and Mario is playing like the senior he is. T Rob will be back, and hopefully Josh, but this team is a Unit and will continue to play well. By now, most teams have some bumps and bruises to contend with. Defense will be the key and this will be the time we take it more seriously.
Not depressing, just a new challenge. No worries!

when it rains it pours....(has anyone said that yet?....tee he.) we just can't get healthy...and now that's the case till the end of the regular season. have we ever had anyone come back earlier than expected, in season? Selby maybe was to have missed a game...at most two..and now he'll miss four. Travis Releford was going to be back the next game...and he missed six.

for TRob, has to be disappointing....he was on such a roll. the good news is, we are deep....the bad news is, our overall team chemistry will never get set, as long as we have to plug guys in to play....and this will affect us for the post season. who will step up in leadership? that's the big question mark for this team.

Question: Why did TRob let go of the rim when his body was horizontal to the ground?
Answer,: he didn't want to get T'd up for hanging on the rim.

Solution: change the hanging on the rim rule to allow it not only when preventing landing on another player, but also to allow the dunker to get horizontal again. When a player is moving toward the bucket for a dunk, his momentum will carry his lower body horizontal if he even holds the rim for a split second in order to look for a safe landing. But if there is no one underneath they have to let go to avoid the "T". I watched the Knicks Stoudamire follow a missed shot for a put back dunk last night. He got totally horizontal, held the rim til he was vertical, then let go. In college he would have been td up instantly, but not in the NBA. Trob's injury could have been much worse. It would be awful to see a kid's future, and possibly the future of his family, get ruined because he was just trying to stay within the rules.

You are obviously the worst "drawer of inferences" alive! That was in no remote way anything but my attempt at humor. Geez, some people are just too tightly wound! You should change your name to Psychophant!

Gary, please consider a followup story in which you interview the doctor who performed the surgery about whether the meniscus was able to be sewn back together or it had to be snipped; if the latter, what percentage of the meniscus had to be removed; whether it was the lateral or the medial meniscus that was operated on; how the severity of this injury compares to similar surgeries the doctor has performed; and how much this surgery is likely to hamper TRob in his future playing career. I'm sure we would all be greatly appreciative of such a followup.

This surgery is way minor compared to B Rush's ACL in '07. Look how he came back. T Rob will be back relatively soon, and this should not hamper his career. He will play again likely before Big 12 Tourney.

Having never had the ability to get high like that I really question whether he needed to grab the rim at all. I understand he's running at break neck speed but do you have to grab the rim on a dunk? I've followed this game for a long time and I don't remember players doing that 'back in the day'.
So is he showboating while doing it? Then that's just foolish.

I doubt if that detail would be allowed. Medical disclosure laws are very strict these days. And speaking of medical disclosure, this article is the first I've read about Withey having problems with tendonitis in his knee. Did I just miss it? I only knew about the broken foot.

Following up on the discussion about Kieff's intentional foul, Marcus' elbow, etc., from this past week .. multiple posters found nothing wrong with, cited the need to be physical, minimized the actions, etc.

This takes on a little different meaning now, doesn't it? Does anyone want either of them doing that sort of stuff, knowing we don't have TRob in case of an ejection? And don't underestimate Iowa St. ... no TRob, Kieff or Marcus get in foul trouble, Brady not hitting as he has in the past two weeks or so, and no Selby ... just suggesting that it isn't a lock if things don't break right.

I hope for TRob's sake that they didn't completely remove the meniscus. That can really have long term effects and shorten your career Ex. Brandon Roy.

As far as Selby's injury goes, does anyone remember Hansbrough having a "stress reaction" in his shin a few years back? They kept saying he would be back soon but he ended up out 6 or so weeks. I really hope that isn't the case for Selby but I wouldn't be surprised if this continues to drag out until late February.

Some thoughts on the game today:
1. I am interested to see the frequency of Little and Releford on the floor together, minus TRob. It might seem logical to think Withey will get the major share of TRob's minutes. But particularly when Kieff is on the floor and Marcus is out, going with both Little and Releford together might minimize the size issues a bit.
2. Also, I would expect to see more pure high/low sets with Little high, given Little's amazing mid-range game .. and the need to play Little at the 4 with TRob out.
3. Other things to look for is how conservative/aggressive TT is after the 14 shot game. The positives and negatives were debated by posters, but we'll likely be able to tell how coach Self voted on that by TT's play today, and Self's reaction to that play. Really looking forward to his game today. I think TT will play well.
4. If I'm the Iowa St. coach, I focus primarily on simply taking Marcus out of the game. Understanding Kieff has been nearly as good, It would make sense for ISU to say "someone else is going to beat us" .. double Marcus hard everywhere, etc. Then, target the doubles on Kieff to certain spots .. likely only the short-corner/box. With that, as the ISU coach, I would sag off of Brady and TT big-time to take away passing lanes and the drive, and to gamble that they won't beat me shooting the ball. But I'm not the coach .....
5. If we get two guys going from outside, I expect we'll be fine and on the way to a 15-20 pt blowout. But if not, things might be much tighter.

1] The Twins will have to take up the slack.
2] Withey is what he is...a seven footer who has yet displayed the strength or quickness to actually matter.
3] TROB out for two weeks,..,tack on another two weeks to be in game shape again.
4] Kansas just got considerably smaller, but maybe quicker.
5]At least the schedule is somewhat favorable with 3 out of 4 at home against inferior teams and a very winnable game on the road at KSU.
6]At least it wasn't an ankle!!

What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger. The bitch of it all is we could very well be #! come Monday!!!